Contrary to your guess, this approach has brought far higher quality and more intimate relationships into my life. You'd be surprised how immediately rejecting

Contrary to your guess, this approach has brought far higher quality and more intimate relationships into my life. You'd be surprised how immediately rejecting what you anticipate will bother you results in the void being filled by what will add to your life. If someone is still in a phase of their life where the first question out of their mouth is "what do you do for a living," they can find other friends. There are a lot of people in this world - no need for me to waste my time with ones who follow routine social interaction protocols. Suggesting this is elitist is a little silly. We are all elitists. There are 7 billion people in this world - we choose who we spend our time, and always reject others. Not actively making that choice is a recipe for an unfulfilling and frustrating existence. I'm not saying you shouldn't know what your friends do, only that I don't want relationships where my first impression or their first impression is based on employment.